This invention relates generally to ultrasound medical imaging systems, and more specifically, to partitioning multiple transducer elements of an ultrasonic probe into non-overlapping sub-apertures for the transmission of an ultrasound signal.
Two key components of an ultrasound system are the ultrasound probe and the beamformer. The beamformer focuses and steers ultrasound energy transmitted by and received by the probe to acquire image data, and as one step in generating images of anatomic content on a display. Three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound imaging may be accomplished using a probe that has a two-dimensional (2D) matrix array of transducer elements. In many systems, the elements are used for both transmit and receive operations. Current systems achieve this dual operation of the transducer elements by multiplexing between the transmit and receive circuitry in the system. Each channel in the probe may be connected with one cable to the system and be used both for transmit and receive operations.
The transducer elements are typically arranged in a 2D array that may be divided into a plurality of sub-apertures (or subarrays) for both transmit and receive operations by grouping subsets of the transducer elements together. For example, each aperture may include at least one acoustic transducer element. The sub-aperture grouping may be different on transmit and receive. The layout and implementation of the sub-apertures for transmit and receive affects image quality. Some probes use transmitters located within the probe although this configuration can generate significant heat. It is therefore desirable to provide a transmit solution for a 2D array probe where a relatively small number of system channels (such as approximately 170 system channels) can drive an array with a large number of elements (such as approximately 2600 elements).
Therefore, a need exists for improved transmit beamforming of a 2D array for 3D ultrasound imaging that improves the aperture sub-grouping without the limitations discussed above.